Electronic relay arrangement for protecting power systems



Jan. 1, 1952 H. MACPHERSON 2,581,196 ELECTRONIC RELAY ARRANGEMENT FOR PROTECTING POWER SYSTEMS Filed Oct. 14, 1948 O 2 SHEETS-SHEET l BLOCK TRIP 5] =/(,1s//v[; Ut-(-6] Fig.3, X

z=K (-e) Inventor: e Ponald HMacphePson,

\ R b M 73% His Attorney.

1952 R. H. MACPHERSON 96 ELECTRONIC RELAY ARRANGEMENT FOR PROTECTINC POWER SYSTEMS Filed Oct. 14, 1948 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 His Att orney.

Patented Jan. 1, 1952 ELECTRONIC RELAY ARRANGEMENT FOR PROTECTING POWER SYSTEMS Ronald H. Macpherson, Woodbury, N. J assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application October 14, 1948, Serial No. 54,368

4 Claims.

My invention relates to electronic relay arrangements for protecting power systems and more. particularly to a protective arrangement which is operable in response to predetermined instantaneous current and voltage conditions existing during a fault on the protected power system.

In United States Letters Patent 2,405,081, Warrington, granted July 30, 1946, and assigned to the assignee of this invention, there is disclosed and claimed a relay arrangement wherein electromagnetic relays of the so-called wattmetric type are utilized to protect an electric power system. The relays of this Warrington patent are of the well-known mho type.

In United States Letters Patent 2,299,561, Bivens, granted October 20, 1942, and assigned to the assignee of this application, there is disclosed a protective apparatus utilizing electronic valves for protecting electric power systems. My

Thus, one object oi. my invention is to provide I measuring circuit, a pulsing circuit, and a tripinvention constitutes an improvement of the ar- U rangement disclosed and claimed in the abovementioned Bivens patent and is similar to the arrangement disclosed in the above-mentioned Warrington patent in that it is adapted to be applied to a power system in substantially the same way and in that the relay itself is of the mho type. Also my invention is related to the invention disclosed and claimed in application Serial Number 54,533, filed October 14, 1948, Warrington, assigned to the assignee of this application, now Patent No. 2,511,689.

In electronic relay arrangements such as those disclosed and claimed in the above-mentioned Bivens patent, a measuring circuit is used wherein an electrical quantity derived from the power system voltage is compared with an electrical quantity derived from the system current and the resulting quantity is utilized to indicate a fault condition on the power system. Comparison of these two quantities is made at a predetermined instantaneous value of the system voltage.

In accordance with my invention, I provide an improved pulsing circuit for determining the lnstant when the instantaneous voltage of the system is a maximum value and I also incorporate memory action in the pulsing circuit to insure that the relay will operate for several cycles after the fault occurs even though the system voltage drops to a very low value or disappears altogether.

In accordance with another feature of my in vention, means are provided for producing a substantially sinusoidal wave shape of the electrical quantity used in the measuring circuit and derived from the system current.

ping circuit. The measuring circuit comprises means for producing a voltage which is a function of the system voltage, means for producing a voltage dependent upon the system current, and means for comparing these two voltages and sup-- plying the resultant voltage to the control grid of a five-element vacuum tube. If the instantaneous values of system voltage and current bear a predetermined relationship one to the other which relationship is indicative of a fault condition on the power system, the hold-off bias of the control grid will be overcome. The pulsing circuit comprises a peaking transformer and an electronic valve responsive to system voltage for energizing the suppressor grid of the pentode at the maximum instantaneous value of the system voltage. Thus, the pentode will conduct at the instant when the system voltage is a maximum if a predetermined voltage resulting from a system fault is supplied to the control grid-thereof by the measuring circuit. The tripping circuit includes means for energizing the trip coil of a circuit breaker associated with the protected line section in response to the flow of current through the pentode. As will be explained more fully hereinafter, a relay arrangement embodying my invention is characterized by a circular impedance characteristic well-known in connection with electromagnetic mho relays. In accordance with a further feature of my invention, I provide means for offsetting the mho circle from the origin which comprises means for inserting into the pulsing circuit an electrical quantity produced by the system current.

In the following description my invention is set forth in connection with a mho relay but it will be understood that it is equally applicable to other types of relays. For example, instead of producing a voltage by comparing a voltage derived from the power system current with a voltage derived from the power system voltage, the control voltage could be produced by comparing two voltages both of which are dependent upon various other electrical quantities such, for example, as the current entering and leaving a protected piece of electrical apparatus, or section of power line. Furthermore, the instant at which the suppressor grid is energized need not be at the peak of the system voltage but could be at some other time such for example'at the zero point of the system current in which event the relay would be of the reactive type.

My invention will be better understood from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the various circuit elements comprising my invention; Fig. 2 is a family of curvesto aid in explaining the operation of the circuit of Fig. 1; Fig; 3 is an impedance diagram to aid'in explaining the characteristics of the circu'itshown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the circuit elements embodied in my invention wherein means are provided for modifying the circuit of Fig. 1 to produce an oifset impedance characteristic; Fig. 5" is a vector diagram to aid in explaining the principlesof the circuit'shown in Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is an impedance diagram also for the purpose of aiding in explaining the circuit elements of Fig. 4.

It'will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the circuit shown in Figf 1 comprises an arrangement for protecting two conductors of a transmission line. It will be understood that two As explained above, the voltage E1 is compared with a voltage which is a function of the system voltage. The system voltage applied across the primary winding 3 of the potential transformer l4 establishes a voltage in the secondary winding 15 of the transformer I4. This voltage, dependent on the system'voltage, may be represented by the expression E sin wt and is indicated in Fig. 1. Thus, when the voltage E sin wt is bucked against the voltage E1, the resultant voltage will determine the potential of the control grid 19 of the pentode 20 since the control grid 19 is connected to the measuring circuit through the conductor 2| and the schematically-represented sliding contact 22. In practice I have found it desirable to arrange the circuit so that the control grid 19 will prevent the pentode. from-"conducting whenever'the voltage E sin wt is greater than the voltage Ex so that the control grid [9 will allow the pentode'to conduct if these two voltages are equalor E1 exceeds E sin wt. While thetube 20 isshown on the drawings and referred to in the description as a pentode it will .be obvious that an electronic device'havlng a different arrangement and number of electrodes could be used provided that the measuring and 5 for the purpose of improving the amplifying other arrangements identical to the arrangement of 'Fig. 1 wouldbenecessary to afford protection,

stood by those skilled in the art' that the arrangement of Fig. 1 would comprise an M! or an Mfimho 'relay unit as explained in the above Warrington patent.

' The measuring circuit of Fig. 1 will now be described. A current transformer l is energized'in accordance with current flow in line conductor 2 and one winding 3 of a potential transformer is energized in response to the voltage appearing across line conductors 2 and 4'. Energy from the secondary winding from current transformer I is supplied to the primary windings of the transactor unit ii. Transactor unit 6, in effect, is a combined reactor and transformer. A resistor l'isconnected across the terminals of the secondarywinding 8 of the transactor 5. A selected portion of: the voltage across resistor 1 is'impressed across resistor element 9 and. capacitor element I0 by suitable adjustment of the sliding contact II. In this way a voltage which is a function of the system current in conductor 2 is impressed across the series connected resistor 9 and capacitor l0 and on Fig. l is designated as KI sin wt.

Because the voltage across a reactor or a transactor is proportional to frequency, harmonics are exaggerated. To overcome this objectionable tendency which would'distort the relay impedance characteristic, a capacitor 13 is connected across the secondary winding IE to neutralize this effect, because the voltage across capacitor is inversely proportional to the frequency as is wellknown.

characteristics of the tube 20but does not affect the invention;

The function of the measuring: circuit above described will be better understood with reference to Fig. 2. In Fig. 2 the relay voltage E sin wtis proportional to'and in phase with thesystem voltage. The relay current I sin wt is likewise proportional to and in phase with the current-in conductors 2 and 4, and lags the relay voltage E sin wt by the systempower factor and 5. This is because there is negligible angular shift in these quantities by virtue of the transformers l and I4.

It has been stated that it is desirable to allow the pentode to be conductive by means .of the control grid at the moment when E sin wt'isa' maximum. If the voltage E1 is in phase with the line current it would be most effective in overcoming E sin wt when the power factor angle of the system is zero degrees. The angle of maximum reach of the relay would then he along the R-axis of a diagram suchas that shown in Fig. 3'. In practice it is desirable to have the angle of maximum reach occur at some angle between 45 and degrees from the R-axis. To this end the natural angle of the transactor 8 and a means comprising the capacitor I0 and the resistor 9 are'utilized to cause the voltage E1 to shift by an angle 0. Inaddition the polarity of transactor 8 is reversed so that E1 is directly out of phase with E sin wt at the system power factor angle p and the angle of maximum reach occurs at the angle 0. When this is done, the respective magnitudes of the voltage E1 and the voltage E sin wtwill determine the potential applied to the control 2 grid IQ of the pentode 20. v The resistor 21} is it pentode 23 conductive at the instant when the line voltage E-sin is a maximum: To this end "the'above-me'ntioned pulsing circuit is used wherein the secondary winding 24 of the transformer I 4 is utilized to control the potential of the grid of the triode 26 through resistor 21. The triode 26 has characteristics such that it will saturate in response to a relatively small change in potential of the grid 25 so that the tube will conduct heavily even though the potential supplied to grid 25 is quite low as would be the case when a phase-to-phase fault involving conductors 2 and 4 occurs very close to the relay. The plate circuit of triode 26 includes the primary winding 28 of peaking transformer 29. The secondary winding of peaking transformer 29 is 1-- connected through a resistor 3| to the suppressor grid 32 of the pentode 20 and also to the relatively large biasing potential 5|. The voltage produced by the peaking transformer 29 is represented in Fig. 2 by the curve Ept. From Fig. 2 it will be seen that the peaking transformer voltage Ept occurs when the voltage E sin wt is a maximum. This is desirable because experience has shown that a great majority of fault conditions are initiated at or just before the instant when the line voltage is a maximum. Furthermore, as will be more fully explained hereinafter, a circular impedance characteristic is achieved by selecting the maximum instantaneous value of the line voltage as the instant when the pulsing circuit energizes the suppressor grid 32 of the pentode 20 so as to overcome the large bias of the potential 5| and thereby to allow the pentode 28 to conduct provided the potential supplied to the control grid [9 of the pentode 23 is indicative of a fault condition on a circuit comprising conduc'tors 2 and 4. The voltage Ept produced by the peaking transformer actually is utilized only at the instant of positive voltage maximum of the line voltage due to the inherent characteristics of the pentode 20. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that another triode such as 26 could be utilized to energize another peaking transformer similar to 29 when the line voltage is a maximum negative value so that a pulse would occur every half cycle as shown in Fig. 2. For purposes of simplicity, this additional triode is not shown in Fig. 1. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the peak occurring at the negative half cycle of E sin wt can be utilized to allow an additional pentode similar to 2D to be conductive. The control grid of the additional pentode would be supplied with a voltage similar to E: except reversed in polarity. By these means the relay unit former 29 even though the voltage applied to the grid 25 of the triode 25 may vary over a relatively wide range In this way, uniform potentials are applied to suppressor grid 32 of pentode 213 and attendant consistency of operation is achieved. Should the fault be within the first zone, for example, the M! unit might not operate properly if the fault within zone I were close enough to the MI unit to cause the line voltage between conductors 2 and 4 to drop below a predetermined minimum value in which event the triode 26 would not fire. For the purpose of making sure that the triode amplifier 26 will fire. in response to a fault condition when very low line to-line voltages exist, memory action means are provided. This memory action arrangement is accomplished by the tuned circuit comprising the primary winding 28 of the peaking transformer 29 and the capacitor 33. In this way a memory action peak for several cycles is maintained after the fault occurs. Thus, ample time is provided for energizing the suppressor grid 32 of the pentode 253 to allow the tripping circuit of the asso ciated circuit breaker to become energized.

When the pentode 2B is rendered conductive by means of the operation of the measuring and pulsing circuits already described, the tripping circuit will be energized. More specifically the pentode 20, when made sufliciently conductive, causes the gaseous discharge tube 34 to fire which in turn energizes the coil 35 of the relay 3B, which in turn closes its contacts 3! to energize the circuit breaker tripping coil 38. Upon energization of tripping coil 38, the latch 39 of the latch closed circuit breaker 49 is tripped and the circuit breaker 4B is opened, The tripping circuit includes the normally closed auxiliary contact 4! operated by the circuit breaker mechanism.

The gas-filled tube 34 fires due to the action of capacitor 42 when the pentode 2!] passes'plate current. Normally capacitor 42 has impressed thereacross a voltage equal to the voltage between the negative bus I! and the positive bus 43 When pentode 20 is rendered conductive, a'plate circuit current flows through the resistor 44. The voltage drop through resistor 44 causes the potential of the upper plate of the capacitor 42 to be quickly reduced. Since there is no path through which the capacitor 42 may discharge quickly the voltage thereacross is maintained for a brief period during which the negative plate of the capacitor 42 is driven more negative relative to the grid 45 of the tube 34. This, in effect, renders the cathode of the triode 34 more negative with respect to the grid 45 thereof so that triode 34 is rendered conductive. In this way the relay 36 is energized and the circuit breaker opened as explained above.

As pointed out above, the impedance characteristic of the relay embodying my invention is circular and passes through the origin and the relay, therefore, is of the well-known mho type. The voltage E1, which is a function of the line current, may be expressed:

where K is the constant of the measuring circuit and where is'the power factor angle and 0 is the angle of the measuring circuit. Since the pentodeZll is rendered conductive in so far as control grid l9 isconcerned when the voltage derived'from the current in the power system is equal to the voltage E sin wt derived from the system voltage, the quantities may be equated.

Since the pentode 20 is held off by the suppressor grid 32, except when the line voltage is a maxi mum, i. e., when wt equals the above equation may bewritten as follows:

ami -ac (3) K cos-('-6') which is the impedance Z measured by the-relay so that (4) Z=K cos-cp-m Equation 4 is a circle of diameter equal to K which circle represents the impedance characteristic of a mho relay.

InFig. 3 the quantities appearing in Equation 4 are graphically. represented. From Fig. 3 it is obvious. that changes in the angle of the measuring circuit will merely shift the circle clockwise or counterclockwise about the origin .of the X-RI.diagram, .and'that changes in the power factor angle 4 will merely change the value and angular disposition of the impedance Z. Because the impedance Z forms one leg of a right triangle and because the diameter K of the circle forms the hypotenuse of the triangle, changes in the magnitudeand angular disposition of the quantity Z will not destroy the circular characteristic of the relay.

As explained in the above-mentioned Warrington Patent 2,405,081 for example, it is desirable to cause a mho relay unit M3 to have a characteristic which is ofiset with respect to the origin so that the relay is capable of reaching in the opposite direction along thetransmission linefrom that of the reach of the mho relay units MI and M2. To this endthe circuit arrangement shown. in Fig.v 4 may be used. The circuit of Fig; 4. is. identical to the circuit of Fig. 1. except that in Fig. 4 means are provided for shifting the peaking voltage produced by the. pulsing circuit with respect. tothe voltages produced by the measuring circuit. To this end a secondary winding 46 is added to the transactor 6 and the voltage developed across this secondary winding is applied to aresistor 41 connected in series with acapacitor 48. The voltage developed across the capacitor 48. is supplied between the cathode of the triode-26 and the secondary winding 24 of the potential transformer M. This voltage may be represented by the expression:

KoI sin wt+ (cw-0") where K0 is a constant converting line current to offsetting voltagein the transactor and where 4) .is the system power factor and 0 is the relay angle of the offsetting voltage.

The total voltage impressed on grid 25 of tube 2'6 is the vector sum of the voltage across resistor 41 and capacitor 48 and the voltage E sin wt and may be expressed as follows:

The vector sum of the above two quantities which are combined to produce the pulsing tube voltage will be a maximum at some point on the system voltage wave: E sin wt other than the maximum point. Thus, because the sum of the two quantities represented by Equation will cause by means of the peaking transformer 29 in the plate circuit of tube 26 the suppressor grid 32 of pentode' .to allow pentode .20 to conduct during fault conditions when the vector sum of these'twoquantities is a maximum. it is necessary to-determine-the time when Equation 5 will be a maximum. The time so determined may be. sub stituted in Equation 1 and the expression of an offset mho type impedance circle may be derived. Expanding the right-hand side'of Equation 5 (6) Vpt=E sin .wt+KnI sin wt cos- (-0)+Kolcos wt sin (as-.0)

Rearranging (7) V t=E+KoI cos (gb-O') sin wt-i-KOI sin (-0') cos wt This expression may be shown onavector diagram as in Fig. 5. From the vector diagram it is seen that the instantaneous value of voltage applied to the grid of tube 2 6 may be expressed as where a is the angle between the reference vector. E+K0I cos (mp-*0) and Vpt. Equation 8 is a maxi.- mum when sin (wt-H1) =1 or when wt+a=. It follows that (9) wt=90-a which indicates the time when the pentode 1n the tube circuit will be gated and allow comparison of line voltage and line current. It is apparent from Equation 9 that From the vector diagram in Fig. 5 it is seen that cos wt==sin a and sin wt==cos a (11) cos E+K I cos 5-0) and Sin K l sin (0) 1" To facilitate substitution, Equation 1 may be'expanded as follows:

(12) E sin wt=KI [sin wt cos (0) cos wt sin (--6] The expressions for sin wt and cos wt as shown in Equations 10 and 11 may now be substituted in Equation 12 and the expression for an ofl'set inho type impedance circle derived as follows:

This equation can further be developed to show that it is that of an offset mho type impedance circle. To simplify the development, however, the relay angle 0 will be assumed equal to the angle of the offsetting voltage 0'; since this is generally true in the application of mho type relays. Equation 14 may now be written:

to each side of the equation a M m.-

KK K+K 2 which is recognized as the equation of an offset mho type impedance circle with diameter equal to K +Ko of which K0 is the offset and K is the original diameter before oifset. Equation 19 is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 6.

It should be noted from Fig. 6 that the portion K of the diameter of the mho impedance circle is identical to the diameter of the mho impedance circle shown in Fig. 3. Stated otherwise, the offset is achieved by enlarging the characteristic circle of a relay such as that shown in Fig. 3 without changing the reach of the unit in the direction opposite from the reach determined by the offset. This feature allows adjustment of the offset reach by varying the circuit elements of Fig. 4 without interfering in any way with the reach of the relay in the other direction so that re-adjustment after setting the offset is not necessary. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that a relay arrangement such as that shown in Fig. 1 having characteristics such as are shown in Fig. 3 is well suited for use as an MI or an M2 unit for zones 1 and 2, and that the arrangement shown in Fig. 4 having characteristics such as those shown in Fig. 6 is adapted for use as an M3 unit for third zone application.

While I have, in accordance with the patent statutes, shown and described my invention as applied to a particular power system and as embodying various devices diagrammatically indicated, changes and modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art, and I, therefore, intend in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope and spirit of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A memory action pulsing circuit comprising normally operative means for producing a potential at regular periodic intervals, a peaking transformer having a primary winding periodically energized by said normally operative means and a secondary winding connected to an output circuit, and capacitance means in parallel with said primary winding, said capacitance means havin a value of capacitive reactance sufficient to produce a periodic energization of said peaking transformer at said regular intervals after said normally operative means becomes inoperable.

2. A memory action pulsing circuit for periodically energizing a grid element of an electronic device comprising, an electronic valve having a grid and an anode, means for supplying a valve operating signal to the grid of said valve during alternate half-cycles of an alternating current source of energy, a peaking transformer having a primary winding in series with the anode circuit of said valve and a secondary winding connected to control the energization of the grid of said device, and capacitance means connected in parallel with said primary Winding, said capacitance means having a value of capacitance reactance suflicient to cause said secondary winding to produce a periodic energization of the grid of said device after the voltage of said source is reduced to a value insuflicient to operate said valve.

3. A memory action pulsing circuit for periodically energizing a grid element of an electronic device comprising, an electronic valve having a grid and an anode, means for supplying a valve operating signal to the grid of said valve during alternate half-cycles of an alternating current source of energy, said valve being saturable for values of voltage of said source slightly above a predetermined operating value, a peaking transformer having a primary winding in series with the anode circuit of said valve and a secondary winding connected to control the energization of the grid of said device, and capacitance means connected in parallel with said primary winding, said capacitance means having a value of capacitive rectance sufficient to cause said secondary winding 'to produce a periodic energization of the grid of said device after the voltage of said source is reduced to a value below said predetermined operating value.

4. A pulsing circuit for periodically energizing a grid element of an electronic device, comprising a source of alternating current energy, an electronic valve controlled by said source, said valve being saturable during alternate half-cycles of said source when the voltage thereof is slightly in excess of a predetermined minimum value, and a peaking transformer having a secondary winding connected to control the energization of the grid of said device and a tuned primary winding normally energized by said valve, said primary winding being tuned to oscillate at the frequency of said source for a predetermined number of cycles after reduction of the voltage of said source below said predetermined minimum value and the resulting cut-off of said valve.

RONALD MACPHERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,877,446 Curtis Sept. 13, 1932 1,967,850 Wideroe July 24, 1934 2,027,214 Wideroe Jan. 7, 1936 2,131,608 Warrington Sept. 27, 1938 2,299,561 Bivins Oct. 20, 1942 2,442,214 Short May 25, 1948 2,442,769 Kenyon June 8, 1948 2,444,715 Walker July 6, 1948 2,516,533 Slack July 25, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 370,899 Great Britain Apr. 6, 1932 

